A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
A man, infirm
With age, slowly sucks
A fish bone.
A man feared that he might find an assassin;
Another that he might find a victim.
One was more wise than the other.
A man feared that he might find an assassin;
Another that he might find a victim.
One was more wise than the other.
A man is not the slave of circumstance,
Or need not be, but builder and dictator;
He makes his own events, not time nor chance;
Their logic his: not creature, but creator.
Up from the oven pit,
The hell where poor men toil,
At the sunset hour he comes
Clean-clothed, washed from soil.
On the fo'c's'le head he kneels,
His face to the hallowed West.
He prays, and bows and prays.
Does he pray for death and rest?
Cache-les dans ton coeur, toi dont le coeur pardonne,
Ces bouquets imprudents qui fleurissaient en moi ;
C'est toute une âme en fleur qui s'exhale vers toi ;
Aux autres, je l'entr'ouvre : à toi, je te la donne.
You and me
me and you
flower-bee
grass and dew.
How can my love hold him when the other
Flaunts a gaudy lust and is lioness
To his beast? Men are worthless, to trap them
Use the cheapest bait of all, but never
Love, which in a woman must mean tears
And a silence in the blood.
L'amour a remué ma vie comme on remue la terre dans la zone des armées
J'atteignais l'âge mûr quand la guerre arriva
Et dans ce jour d'août 1915 le plus chaud de l'année
Bien abrité dans l'hypogée que j'ai creusé moi-même
C'est à toi que je songe Italie mère de mes pensées
